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Owning Your Journey | by Tolu Odulesi

Introducing Mr. Tolu Odulesi. Today, I have the priceless opportunity to feature a powerful post by Tolu, an avid reader of the Light a Lamp Blog, a prolific writer, and a child of God. This Blog is blessed to have him on board as a collaborative guest writer, there will certainly be more from him in the future. I believe this post carries a very important message for anyone ready to go on a journey of fulfilling God's purpose in his or her life.

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"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" - Isa 41:10

God's grace is not meant to make us passive; the grace of God will never let you take on a passive role in your journey of being transformed into Christ likeness. There is an "active" dimension to our relationship with God, whereby we must ACT! There is an intentionality that we must own if we are to become Christ-like.

In the scripture above you are meant to carry out the command "do not fear" or "do not be dismayed." You actively eliminate fear by feasting on God and believing in his goodness and greatness towards you. You do what you have to, to eliminate fear and press on towards the high call of God on your life.

This same dimension was present when God repeatedly told Joshua to be Strong and Courageous. Joshua had to figure out how to be strong and courageous. His fears were not going to just disappear. He had to feast on the word (Josh 1:7-8) and then BELIEVE it.

After believing, when Joshua's fears manifested, he knew they were lies and so he intentionally and actively shut down the voice of the inner critic, the voice of the enemy and all other voices that stood against the words God gave him.

Your choices matter | Be Intentional:

Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD is the one who goes before you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor forsake you - Deut 31:8

We are people of dominion! We must allow the word of God to penetrate deep into our hearts – Prov 4:20-27. We can allow it or block it from penetrating our hearts. We do this by intentionally choosing to read the scriptures, sit in silence and meditate, read books and commentaries, listen to sermons, discuss scriptures with others, etc. These activities must go beyond something on our “to-do-list.” They become our lives, how we live.

In Col 3:15 &16, you see again that God has ordained things to work in a way where we are actively involved in how our lives shape up. How do you “let” the word of God dwell richly in you? By engaging spiritual disciplines and choosing activities that make you present to the Holy Spirit. You craft your days and nights in such a way that you are attentive to God.

How do we “let” the peace of Christ (peace that comes from Christ) rule (act as an umpire) in our hearts?

We do this by trusting in God and holding on to Him – Ps 26:3-4.

We intentionally choose to trusteven when the facts are telling a different story. And we don’t do this once or twice; we continually do this to build our faith.

He has already given us His peace (John 14:27) and in the second part of that verse, we again see the necessity of being active, of taking what God has given to you. Not waiting and expecting peace to find you, but you lay hold on peace because peace is not stillness, peace is found in a person – Christ! You lay hold of peace by believing in His goodness and greatness towards you.

Being Proactive is a Necessity

With a lot of scriptures, I see that being proactive is a necessity. It is required of us – Arise and Shine, Rise up and take possession of the land, etc. Why does God insist that we have to first take a step in faith before possessing what He has promised us? It is so that we mature and become competent humans who are not thrown around by every wind that comes up.

So when the enemy brings about discouragement, stand strong, the One who called you is faithful. I know it can be trying but He will help you and uphold you.

Nothing good, especially transformation into Christlikeness, can happen by chance or by you living unintentionally. We, humans, are created with the greatest capacity to choose and be intentional, yet we are the ones who live life unintentionally the most.

An ant will NEVER wake up and decide it is a lion and decide to sleep all day and hunt in the evening. An antelope will not just wake up and decide he is now a cheetah. Yet this is how we live as humans, as Christians.

Even Jesus had to be intentional about his life. He learnt obedience through the things he suffered. There was an intentionality to his life and we must begin to own our process, our journey, if we will ever become all that He intends us to be.